Top scientists call for reassessment of agrofuels policy – but will the Commission take heed in 2012?

According to an Opinion issued by a panel of 19 top European scientists, existing targets for agrofuels and other forms of bioenergy are based on “flawed” carbon accounting and the “potential consequences …are immense”.[1]

The panel, established by the Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency (The European Union’s (EU) environmental Watchdog) in September this year stated that "legislation that encourages substitution of fossil fuels by bioenergy, irrespective of the biomass source, may even cause an increase in carbon emissions, accelerating global warming".[2] The panel called on the EU to revise its bioenergy laws to make intelligent use of the best-performing agrofuels, warning that an alternative option currently under the EC’s consideration, to increase agrofuels’ emission saving thresholds[3] would not be effective in mitigating Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC).

In a separate development in October this year, a group of almost 200 scientists and economists (organised by The Union of Concerned Scientists[4]) with expertise related to climate, energy, and land use wrote a letter of concern to the European Commission  (EC) urging it to take into account the impacts of ILUC caused by agrofuel production.  The letter says: “Without addressing land-use change, the European Union’s target for renewable energy in transport may fail to develop genuine carbon savings in the real world. It could end up as merely an exercise on paper that promotes widespread deforestation and higher food prices.”[5] The letter admits that uncertainties exist in assessing the exact magnitude of ILUC emissions but clearly suggests that uncertainty is no longer an excuse for inaction, stating that, “All the studies of land-use change indicate that the emissions related to biofuels expansion are significant and can be quite large.”[6]

The Commission is currently conducting an assessment on the land use change effects of agrofuels, based on more advanced scientific investigations carried out this year[7], and is expected to present options for policy reform for approval by EU governments and lawmakers by the end of January 2012. Regardless of the outcomes of the assessment, it has been reported that EU legislation to introduce feedstock-specific ILUC factors (the most effective option under consideration for controlling damaging impacts of ILUC) may not emerge for up to seven years and there is no indication that agrofuels mandates will be reduced.[8] While contemplating its New Year's resolutions this week, the Commission and EU policy makers should consider their duty, under the precautionary principle, to pay heed to scientific concern and act immediately to reform Europe's overzealous and outdated agrofuel policies.

For more information see DtE's Agrofuels Update, December 2011.